Belfast and the Giants that live nearby - Ireland Roadtrip Part 6

Wow. Wow is the word I choose to describe Belfast and surrounds. The centre of an evolving history, haunted by spectres of the past with an optimistic eye on the future.

We have to start with the beginning of our experience, which was navigating the Union Jack clad streets. Flapping from windows and hanging across streets like a city-wide car sale they were intimidating and even oppressive. I suddenly felt as if I had been transported to suburban USA, with someone removing all the white picket fences and laying down cobblestones. Not only were there Union Jacks everywhere, but this rather confronting English looking flag with a hand in the centre of it. And English flag, what? Weren't we in Northern Ireland? Not having expected this nor done anywhere near enough homework before our arrival, we put it at the top of our list to understand what all the flags were about.

Flags galore

Poor King Robb...

We stayed at an incredible AirBNB, owned by a couple who have a sign over their mantlepiece about where they met; at the much famed Red Wedding of Westeros. You are probably sick of hearing about it now, but parts of the Game of Thrones HBO series is filmed in Northern Ireland, which provides beautiful locations for shoots and the show, in turn, provides many jobs when it is in town.

But back to the Union flags - that's what Eugene tells us the locals call it. Apparently it's only us foreigners that call it the Union Jack. We met Eugene, a black cab driver come-tour guide randomly on the street. The day before our arrival in Belfast, we had captured a loose nail...in our rear tyre. We were looking our for a spot to get it fixed at a reasonable price, rather than pay a nasty 1300 Euro excess. At a red light, we asked the driver of the cab next to us for some directions. Eugene was so friendly, he led us all the way there. We lost him at one point due to a one-way street but he started twisting and turning through the streets to find us minutes later! My friend Dan had said that one thing we absolutely must do while in Belfast was to have a black cab tour, so I asked Eugene for his card and we ended up booking him for the next day.

We had arrived in town only a day or two after the annual celebrations of the Battle of the Boyne of 1690, and if Eugene is to be believed, the "Troubles" of Northern Ireland's can be traced all the way back there. This is an incredibly complex part of world history, and I certainly cannot do it justice on my own. In a brutally short summary that does not really do it all justice; William III of Orange from Holland claimed the British crown, his faith as a protestant gained him the support of many who wanted to oust the catholic King James II of England. Further complicating matters (to my mind at least), William III of Orange became William III of England, William II of Scotland and plain old King Billy in Ireland. William's final victory over James was at the Battle of the Boyne in eastern Ireland. With so much of this war apparently caught up in Catholicism vs Protestantism, it might be over-simplifying it to draw a line from there to the "Troubles" of the 1960's, but well...a line was drawn. The memory of that battle is still celebrated, hence the flags everywhere, I'll let this article's summary of events this year, and its obvious lack of...objectivity.. on the matter, to speak for itself.

Kat spotted this when we were looking for a particular pub (we did not realise until we doubled back that the pub was just under the photographed quote!)

Eugene was a Catholic and did a fairly good job of teaching us just a small part of the country's complex history. All the same, I would love to do a similar tour with a Protestant guide, to get a more rounded understanding. In VERY general terms, it seems that Catholics support a reunification with the Republic of Ireland, and Protestants broadly support remaining a part of the United Kingdom. The English flag with an (amputated) red hand on it, is the Ulster flag, and representative of another complicated story that I can't possibly hope to get right, and I think is used widely to represent British loyalism.

For me, it's not a happy thought that kids grow up with this vestige of the past in their neighbourhood

A street with murals protesting ongoing injustice across not just in Northern Ireland but the world

After the tour with Eugene we visited the Ulster Museum to gain more of an insight to the Troubles and other parts of history. We were blown away by an exhibition (Silent Testimony) of Colin Davidson's portrait paintings that told the stories of eighteen people and their experiences of loss through the Troubles. It was very powerful representation of the multiple ways the conflict has (and continues to) impact upon individuals and their families.

But exploring the fascinating and sad history of Belfast and Northern Ireland through this tour and galleries, gardens and murals was not all we did.  

Chris found a lovely perch to engage in people-watching

First off we drove along the northern coast on a beautiful day.  We had great views from the mainland of the sea and across the cliffs, so Chris opted not to join us in crossing to the tiny Carrickarede island near Ballycastle.  The views from the island were great, but I don't blame her for not wanting to cross the rickety 20m bridge hovering 30m above the sea!  For a few hundred years is was home to salmon fisherman who used the natural environment to easily trap dopey salmon. Unfortunately, I believe they're now almost all fished out.  Hopefully the tourists (and there were MANY of us) are keeping the money coming in.  There were so many visitors in fact that they needed a bloke to police traffic on the tiny little bridge that could only hold 10 people at a time.

The northern coastline from the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge

Chris definitely made the right choice!

Looking back at the mainland coastline 

Kat enjoying the scenery

Beautiful coloured waters

Enjoying the view without getting too close to the edge!

No wonder Balon Greyjoy fell off!

We explored wider (to the west) to visit the amazing Giant's Causeway. It is said that two giants, one Scottish and one Irish, used the causeway to cross the channel to have it off with one another. Or it could just be an impressive 60 million year old tribute to volcanic power. The coastline itself was beautiful and it was quite peaceful to walk along the tracks taking in the views. We even nestled down for a snack at the base of the Giant's pipe organ, probably ruining hundreds of other people's photos, but at least it meant we could get this one of the normally VERY tall Chris, just to demonstrate how big this thing is!.

Chris having a go at the giant's old pipe organ

Chris got in a fight with a bus...

...but then crushed it under her giant foot!

Perhaps once used by a giant as a path to Scotland, I found it a nice spot to catch a break..

We don't know this photo-bomber

They look like they're man-made, but the scientists swear it was lava..

An interesting fact of the nearby Tourist Information Visitor Centre is that they include various stories about how the casueway was formed, with the controversial inclusion of the Creationist belief  of the Giant's Causeway some 6000 years ago (as part of the Creation of the earth by God).  Some argue, that it should not be there at all, with scientific evidence suggesting it was formed 60 million years ago by volcanic activity.  And some more say that the story is rightfully presented at the visitor centre, along with other mythical explanations, like Finn McCool the giant.


HOT TIP:
If you want to avoid the excruciatingly high per person price of parking at the Causeway Visitor Centre, then pop down the road to the miniature railway where you can park for 2 or 3 euros.  Of course, if you actually want to go into the visitor centre, then you'll pay the 9euro/pp anyway, so you may as well park there.